Anesthesiology

Our goal is to keep you comfortable during your procedure. We provide anesthesia for all types of adult and pediatric surgical procedures, including cardiac, neurosurgical, obstetrical and transplantation.

Types of Anesthesia

During surgery, you will be given some form of anesthesia. The type and dosage of anesthesia is given by the anesthesiologist. Before surgery, you will meet with the physician anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist. The provider will review your medical condition and history to plan the appropriate anesthetic for surgery.

We offer various forms of anesthesia. The type of anesthesia you receive will depend on the type of surgery and your medical condition. Sedatives (to put you to sleep) and analgesics (to ease the pain) may also be used as part of the anesthesia process.

The different types of anesthesia include the following:

Local Anesthesia

Local anesthesia is an anesthetic agent given to temporarily stop the sense of pain in a particular area of the body. You remain conscious during a local anesthetic. For minor surgery, a local anesthetic can be given through an injection to the site or allowed to absorb into the skin. However, when a large area needs to be numbed, or if a local anesthetic injection will not penetrate deep enough, doctors may use other types of anesthesia.

Regional Anesthesia

Regional anesthesia is used to numb only the portion of the body that will undergo the surgery. Usually an injection of local anesthetic is given in the area of nerves that provide feeling to that part of the body. There are several forms of regional anesthetics:

• Spinal anesthetic: A spinal anesthetic is used for lower abdominal, pelvic, rectal, or lower extremity surgery. This type of anesthetic involves injecting a single dose of the anesthetic medicine into the area that surrounds the spinal cord. The injection is made into the lower back, below the end of the spinal cord, and causes numbness in the lower body. This type of anesthesia is most often used in orthopedic procedures of the lower extremities.
• Epidural anesthetic: The epidural anesthetic is similar to a spinal anesthetic and is commonly used for surgery of the lower limbs and during labor and childbirth. This type of anesthesia involves continually infusing an anesthetic medicine through a thin catheter (hollow tube). The catheter is placed into the space that surrounds the spinal cord in the lower back, causing numbness in the lower body. Epidural anesthesia may also be used for chest or abdominal surgery. In this case, the anesthetic medicine is injected at a higher location in the back to numb the chest and abdominal areas.